2019 comes with new retirement plans, for small business owner, you should know that you have several tax-advantaged savings plans at your disposal that allow you to sock away substantial funds for your golden years.

Social Security is our nation's most important social program. Each month, nearly 63 million people receive a traditional Social Security benefit check (i.e., not including Supplemental Security Income), of which roughly 70% are retired workers. Of these aged beneficiaries, more than 3 out of 5 are reliant on Social Security for at least half of their income. Without this program and the guaranteed income it provides to eligible beneficiaries, the elderly poverty rate would likely soar.

Whether you realize it or not, you're probably going to be reliant on Social Security for a portion of your retirement income. According to data from the Social Security Administration (SSA), 62% of current retirees lean on the program for at least half of their income, with just over a third reliant on Social Security for virtually all (90%-plus) of their income.

According to an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, no social program does more for the American public than Social Security. Of the more than 62 million people receiving a benefit check each month, an estimated 22.1 million are kept out of poverty as a result of their payout. Of these 22.1 million, slightly more than 15.3 million are retired workers. Put in another context, the elderly poverty rate would be more than four times higher if Social Security didn't exist.

About 66% of adults in or near retirement don't understand how capital gains taxes affect their income in retirement, according to a recent Nationwide survey. The short answer is it won't have any impact on your retirement income unless you have some savings in a non-retirement investment account. But that doesn't mean that you don't pay any taxes on your retirement savings at all. Here's an overview of what you need to know about taxes in retirement.

Some investors shy away from Roth individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) because, unlike traditional IRAs, they do not provide the potential for an immediate tax deduction . Place money in a regular IRA, this line of thinking goes, and as long as you meet the income requirements, your money is safe from the tax collector for the year in which the contribution took place -- and every year thereafter until you withdraw it.

Instagram is back at it, the popular photo- and video-sharing service is reportedly working on a stand-alone IG Shopping app, and continues to build out core e-commerce functionalities that allow users to buy something directly within the platform.

Retiring in 2018? You Might Need $280,000 to Cover This One Big Expense newsfeedback@fool.com (Christy Bieber) Save
So you think you're ready to leave the workforce? Before you hand in your notice, make sure you're fully prepared to support yourself during retirement. And this doesn't just mean having enough money in your travel fund. There's one big expense that could cost you a fortune during your senior years: healthcare.

Can I Get on Medicare as Soon as I Retire? newsfeedback@fool.com (Maurie Backman) Save
Millions of seniors rely on Medicare to pay for their health-related needs. But many near-retirees make one dangerous assumption: that they'll be eligible for Medicare coverage the moment they leave the workforce. If you're wondering whether you can get on Medicare as soon as you retire, the answer is that it depends on when you decide to bring your career to a close.

Most Americans are painfully aware that healthcare costs have been rising quickly for years. The situation has gotten so bad that Warren Buffett recently stated that increasing costs act as a "tapeworm of the American economy." To combat rising costs, many employers are turning to high-deductible health plans.

Social Security plays a vital role in your retirement planning. With the potential to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in Social Security payments throughout your golden years, it's essential to make smart decisions based on all the facts that are available to you. Yet several aspects of Social Security are confusing to people, and that can lead them to make decisions that aren't as good as they'd be if they fully understood their options.

When you retire, there's a really good possibility that you'll rely on Social Security benefit, to some degree, to help make ends meet.

According to a Gallup survey conducted in April, approximately five out of six nonretirees implied that Social Security would represent either a major (30%) or minor (54%) source of income during retirement. This combined 84% ties a 15-year high for reliance, based on nonretirees' responses.

Running out of money during retirement is a concern that even folks with healthy nest eggs contend with. The last thing you want is to experience cash flow problems when you're older, but if you make any of these three mistakes, you might end up with less money than you'd like during your golden years.

4 Tax Concepts I Wish I'd Known Before I Became Self-Employed Save For most of my adult life, I've been an employee. After college, during which I worked various bartending jobs, I started a career as a high school math teacher and continued to do that until I was in my 30s. To say that the tax issues that affect employees and self-employed individuals are different is a major understatement.

If you look at your pay stub, you'll notice that in addition to paying federal and state (if applicable) income taxes, there's a separate tax to cover Social Security and Medicare expenditures. This is known as the "payroll tax," but might be listed on your pay stub as FICA taxes, or may even be broken down into Social Security (OASDI) and Medicare components.

Here's a quick guide to the United States payroll tax in 2018 -- how much it is, what it covers, and why it could change in the coming years.

If you're not familiar with how Social Security works, you might assume that there's a single age at which eligible recipients have to file for benefits. Not so. You actually get an eight-year window to claim benefits that begins at age 62 and carries through until age 70. (Technically, you're not required to file for benefits at 70, but there's no financial incentive not to.) Smack in the middle of that window is 65, an age often associated with retirement. But here are a few bad reasons to take benefits at that point.

If you're nearing retirement, you're most likely excited for what lies ahead. But before you say goodbye to the workforce, there are a few steps you'll need to take to ensure that you're ready for this giant milestone. 1. Assess your savings Unless you have a pension or another steady source of retirement income, once you stop working, you'll probably come to rely on your nest egg, coupled with Social Security, to pay the bills.

Social Security Wants You to Do These 5 Things to Plan for Retirement Published April 07, 2018 Markets Motley Fool Facebook Twitter Comments Print Social Security is a key program that pays benefits to tens of millions of Americans each and every month.

Of the various expenses retirees face, healthcare is among the most burdensome. From Medicare premiums to prescription drug costs, healthcare expenses can eat up a huge chunk of your retirement savings. In fact, the latest projections tell us that the typical 65-year-old man today will spend $189,687 on healthcare expenses in retirement, while the typical 65-year-old woman will spend $214,565. And these figures don't even include long-term care like nursing home expenses.

The card switch scam

The Better Business Bureau recently highlighted a scam involving Medicare cards. The way it works is that a scammer will call an older American, posing as someone working for Medicare. If you get such a call, the scammer will explain that new Medicare cards are being mailed out and that there is a problem with your card.

What Is a Family Limited Partnership? We all want to avoid taxes, and not just the kind imposed on our weekly or monthly income. The fact of the matter is that any time you receive money, even if it's in the form of an inheritance, the IRS tries to get a piece of it. If your family has amassed a substantial amount of wealth, it might pay to look into a family limited partnership.